Former Oakland Tribune reporter Chauncey Bailey is seen in this undated photo. Bailey, the editor of the Oakland Post was shot to death in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007, in what police believe was a deliberate hit. Bailey, who moved to the Post in June, was killed around 7:30 a.m., Oakland Police spokesman Roland Holmgren said. (AP Photo/Oakland Tribune) **NO SALES MAGS OUT LOCALS PLEASE CREDIT**

Police said Saturday that they have identified the person believed responsible for the ambush killing of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey - a 19-year-old handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery who once participated in a youth entrepreneur's program at UC Berkeley.

Devaughndre Broussard was being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in connection with Thursday's slaying of Bailey, 57, at 14th and Alice streets. Broussard could be formally charged as early as Tuesday with murder in Alameda County Superior Court.

"I'm pretty confident, if what I've been told is true, that it's him and we have a pretty strong case," Oakland Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said Saturday.

According to a report Saturday by the Oakland Tribune, Broussard confessed to police Friday night that he ambushed and killed Bailey with a shotgun because he was upset with the journalist's coverage of Your Black Muslim Bakery. Bailey was a former Tribune reporter.

Jordan told The Chronicle that he did not know if Broussard confessed, while other police officials declined to return calls seeking comment on the investigation.

When he was 15, Broussard participated in Young Entrepreneurs at Haas, a mentorship program at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business that was geared for disadvantaged Bay Area youth. Mentors sought to inspire youths "through challenging and fun business, finance and entrepreneurship curricula" according to the program's Web site.

Broussard, now 19, was among three 10th-grade students who presented their top investment choices in a competition in which they began with a fictional $1 million to invest and worked with a mentor to learn how to analyze target companies.

Broussard won a $100 savings bond. "I'm pretty shocked," a former mentor at UC Berkeley said Saturday of his former charge. He declined to be identified for fear of retribution.

Youths like Broussard would have competed to win admission to the program and undergone an interview, Lucas Abbott, who oversees the program, said Saturday.

Abbott said he did not know Broussard personally but also expressed surprise at his arrest. "They're all great kids," he said of participants in his program.

Broussard was among seven people arrested during a series of predawn raids Friday by police investigating Bailey's killing and the slayings of two men four days apart in July. Also in custody was Yusuf Bey IV, the son of the late leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery who has since taken over the organization. Bey, 21, was being held in lieu of $75,000 bail Saturday at Santa Rita Jail on a warrant out of San Francisco accusing him of assault with a deadly weapon.

Bailey was shot about 7:30 a.m. Thursday at 14th and Alice streets as he was walking to work at the Oakland Post several blocks away. Police said a masked man ambushed Bailey before fleeing.

The bakery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. It listed assets at $1.9 million and a secured debt of $900,000, court records show. The group has operated a security company, a school, and a health and beauty aids store.

"Due to my youth and lack of experience, I was given advice and consultation from many family members and friends that had little to no experience at managing this endeavor," Bey wrote in a June 29 declaration.

In June, a federal trustee said the company had not filed monthly operating reports or paid fees to the trustee. "The creditors and the U.S. Trustee are unable to ascertain how the debtor's business is faring," wrote Assistant U.S. Trustee Minnie Loo.

On Friday, a judge filed an order converting the bakery's case to a Chapter 7 liquidation and said the bakery's last day of business would be Aug. 9. After Friday's raids, the business was shut down by Alameda County health inspectors because of unsanitary conditions.

Bey and four other men are facing separate criminal charges of vandalism, false imprisonment and civil-rights violations for allegedly trashing two Oakland liquor stores in 2005. A preliminary hearing in that case continues later this month.

Bey's father, Yusuf Bey, died in September 2003 while awaiting trial on charges of raping a minor. The vandalism arrests came amid a power struggle within Yusuf Bey's organization after he died.

At least three members of the group have been victims of violence since his death, including Yusuf Bey's 23-year-old-son, Antar, who was shot to death in October 2005 in an attempted carjacking of his vehicle. Antar Bey had been serving as chief executive officer of the Oakland group.

Friday's raids, which followed a yearlong investigation, brought a measure of relief to some neighbors of the bakery who police said had lived in fear.

The two July slayings that police are investigating - of chef-musician Michael John Wills Jr., 36, and Odell Roberson Jr., 31 - both occurred near the bakery.

"During the course of the investigation, we started to hear more and more" about residents being afraid of those associated with the bakery, said Oakland Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki.

But Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid said that in his 18 years on the council and as an aide to former Mayor Elihu Harris, "That's never been communicated to me by any of the residents that live near Your Black Muslim Bakery."

A funeral Mass for Bailey will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Benedict's Catholic Church, 2245 82nd Ave. in East Oakland. Anyone with information in the slaying or other crimes is asked to call Oakland police Crime Stoppers at (510) 238-6946.